Chief executive John Godden shares how Salutem Care has turned around previously failing services providing complex care to 56 people in Cornwall

In September 2022 Cornwall Council asked Salutem to take over the running of the majority of services previously run by Spectrum Care after care had deteriorated due to staffing and management problems.

The specialist care provider had previously been asked to step in by the council to run two Achieve Together services in September 2021.

“The council had seen our success in dealing with the two services in the year before they asked if we would step in and take over the care provision of all 56 complex people,” Godden told us.

“They had an array of issues that had led to some pretty negative ratings from the CQC. A lot of the problems could be traced back to staffing issues. It’s an issue the whole sector has had for the past 18 months but they hadn’t handled it properly and they were understaffed and the staff they had were potentially undertrained.”

With its strong presence in the Southwest, Salutem was asked to take over the Spectrum services under its local subsidiary, Modus Care. “We had enough boots on the ground locally and infrastructure and leadership locally to feel that we could do it,” Godden explained.

“We didn’t want to step into it unless we could be pretty certain that we could do what the council and CQC needed us to do to maintain and improve those important services. We have been very successful in bringing in people who have worked for Spectrum in the past and who had fallen out of love with it. We have added to the team and have stabilized what is going on and it’s in a much better place. There’s a lot more to do and working with the council and CQC we have been pretty effective.”

The 13 former Spectrum services, five of which were rated Inadequate, six Requires Improvement and two Good, range from single person units for individuals requiring very specific care up to 16 person homes.

The homes are now awaiting reinspection under Salutem with Godden confident of a significant improvement in ratings.

“We communicate with the CQC very regularly,” Godden told us. “They are very aware of what we are doing. We expect them to come in and inspect soon. We are ready for that. It’s a proper collaboration between us as a care provider, the council as care commissioner and the CQC. I would expect all of the services to be uprated on reinspection and would be delighted.”

Salutem has taken over the running of the council services on a leasehold basis which Godden said the provider would probably end up buying. A few remaining services are being leased from independent landlords.

Godden cited underinvestment in the properties and insufficient staffing as the biggest challenges.

“There were insufficient staff rather than bad staff,” Godden observed. “The staff who stayed were the ones who had a sense of duty for the people they were looking after. Despite working for an organization that was not necessarily supporting them they still stayed because they cared so much about the people they were looking after. So you take that on and you have got to change that culture and make the staff feel supported, appreciated and give the right training and the right tools and give them more hands. We stopped them having to work 85 hours a week because they didn’t have anyone else to provide the care. The frontline care was pretty good. There was some good stuff happening against all the odds. It was the management that was letting them down and we fixed that.”

Godden told us Salutem had addressed staffing shortages at the services by recruiting a further 40 staff while acknowledging more carers were still required.

“We have managed to increase the staff numbers whereas they had been decreasing month on month over the last few years,” Godden told us. “We do need to carry on increasing numbers and are doing that week by week as fast as we can. We have over 300 staff now.”

The chief executive said virtually all of the Spectrum staff had stayed at the services while acknowledging some had been encouraged to leave. Support for staff has been increased with workers also being given a 10% pay rise.

Despite the services’ troubled recent history, Godden said lifting staff morale had been “quite easy”. “When you are the new people it gives you an advantage because any problems were with the old guys. Being a new provider does give some advantages,” Godden said.

“The thing that we did that made the most difference was that we all went there and met with them and listened to them. A couple of the homes commented that they had seen more of me in a couple of weeks than they had seen the old chief exec in the last 10 years.

“A lot of our colleagues went in and we also have internal communication across the whole business where everybody can share with everybody and that was very important that everyone else can see what else is happening across all of the other homes and schools we have across the country and can feel a part of what we do and we are also able to reach out and ask what they needed. If you work in one of those homes that’s transformational.”

The provision of greater staffing resources and support has also had a transformational effect on on service users’ care.

“One of the guys who was living in a senior person’s unit had not been out and not done a lot of the things he used to do,” Godden noted. “We turned that around very quickly and enabled him to do the things he wants to do like go swimming. The care he was receiving wasn’t bad. The staff were doing an incredible job in the circumstances. He was safe but he wasn’t living a fulfilled life.”

Under Salutem’s capable guidance the former Spectrum services look set for a brighter future.

“The families are very happy with what’s happening,” Godden concluded. “The staff are happy too and hopefully all of the people they are supporting are happy and fulfilled which is the point of the whole exercise.”